The Stand-In Empress’S Wedding Night [EN]: Chapter 167

167. Aren’t You Lonely All Alone, Moiya?

“S-Sorry!”

Seconds later, Catherine followed the Princess, quickly running away.

It happened in an instant, leaving no room to stop them.

“You, you crazy bitches! If you leave, I won’t let you get away with this!”

Melanie hurled insults.

“Your Majesty!”

Sharon’s voice snapped me out of my daze as I stared blankly at the door. I looked down at her.

“There’s something like a mural here…”

Sharon held the oil lamp up to the wall where the starlight had revealed something.

I crouched down, my foot still on the vertex [the highest point of the geometric shape], and examined the area Sharon illuminated.

Ah, the mural depicted a way out of this place.

But there was a ‘condition.’

Damn it.

“Your Majesty, please hurry and get out! We’re all going to die if we stay here, please!”

Sharon, realizing the situation, looked up at me, stomping her feet.

“Don’t say that, Sharon.”

“No, you need to think rationally! Please, hurry!”

“Shut up. That’s an order.”

I spoke firmly to Sharon and then addressed Rosie, Melanie, and Empress Elan, who were still on the vertex.

“We’ll pull one person up at a time and then escape. I’ll explain later, so just pull them up for now.”

There was no time. The starlight continued to spin.

I had Melanie, the weakest, stay on the vertex while I pulled up Sharon and Pessillini. Rosie pulled up Misha, and Empress Elan pulled up Hedon.

Once everyone inside the starlight was pulled up, the starlight began to spin faster and sink lower.

I took a deep breath and exhaled, opening my mouth to speak.

“I command you as your Empress. Everyone, get out of here.”

“Your Majesty! That’s absurd!”

Everyone shouted in unison.

“The mural shows that one person must stay on the vertex. Otherwise, that door will close immediately.”

I said, placing one foot on the vertex.

“I-I’ll stay!”

Sharon raised her hand, her voice trembling.

At that moment, wisps of ghost fire began to appear on the opposite wall.

“No, you can’t handle those things. I need to be here. Empress Elan, please take everyone out. I beg you.”

“Then I’ll stay here too!”

Rosie wailed.

“Rosie, don’t worry. According to the mural, we can get out of here if we just get rid of those ghost fires.”

“B-But…!”

“You’ll only be in the way if you stay here. So, get out.”

Rosie and Sharon burst into tears at my words.

I was choked up too, but there was no time to cry together.

“Empress Elan, the door is closing, hurry, please!”

Empress Elan hesitated, unable to decide what to do.

I had no choice but to push them all towards the door.

Everyone was caught off guard and forced out of the door by my push.

The moment I took my foot off the vertex, the starlight plunged into the ground with a loud roar.

Everyone screamed in terror at the sound.

“Please, come out alive, Your Majesty!”

Sharon shouted to me as the door closed.

I tried to smile, but they were all crying as the door closed, so they probably didn’t see my last smile.

That bothered me.

Now I was completely alone.

Two black dots flickered in the fire. On closer inspection, they were the eyes of the ghost fire.

‘Ghost fire even has eyes.’

“You think you can kill me with such small flames?”

I shouted at the ghost fire, drawing my sword.

“Come on!”

The fist-sized ghost fire charged at me as if it had been waiting.

‘Can I even deflect that with a sword?’

I gripped the sword hilt tightly with both hands and tried to create distance by stepping back,

*Kwaaaack-!*

Suddenly, flames burst forward from behind me.

The ghost fire charging at me collided with the flames erupting from behind me.

Ironically, the ghost fire shattered in the air with the sound of breaking glass.

I was startled and turned around.

“Is that all you got, playing with fire, Moiya~!”

Moiya leisurely crossed her arms, flapping her tiny wings in the air.

“You, how did you get here!”

“I transformed into an orange butterfly and secretly followed you, sticking to Rosie’s head. I was resting on the wall and accidentally fell asleep, you know?”

“So, you’re saying you couldn’t leave because you fell asleep and ended up staying here?”

“I could have left, but then my master would be all alone. Aren’t you lonely all alone, Moiya~.”

I was dumbfounded, but it was reassuring to have Moiya with me.

“…Okay, thank you. But it could be dangerous.”

“Ooh? Dangerous things are adventures, right? Exciting! Yay~.”

Moiya raised both hands and shook them from side to side.

She seemed to be genuinely enjoying the situation.

“It means you could die. Do you understand?”

“Yes! I heard you, Moiya has good ears.”

“……Okay, I see.”

“Don’t play with fireworks, come at me all at once. The great Wyvern will play with you!”

Moiya put her hands on her hips and shouted at the ghost fires.

“Moiya… I don’t think that’s a good idea?”

I wanted to cover Moiya’s mouth.

Whether the ghost fires understood Moiya’s words or not, fist-sized flames really did appear all at once from everywhere.

“Ooh? They even have eyeballs, huh?”

Moiya pointed and mockingly laughed at the ghost fires, seeing their black pupils flickering.

Then the ghost fires seemed to get angry, and the flames surged higher and grew larger.

‘Haaam. Wow, they even have emotions.’

Hwashin appeared, yawning.

“You always show up after something happens?”

I scolded the Hwashin inside me.

‘Zelda, I’ve told you before, I’m not here to help you. I’m just a traveler passing through.’

“If you’re going to freeload off me, shouldn’t you at least help me when I’m in danger?”

I complained to Hwashin, feeling resentful,

‘I don’t ask anything of you. I wish you wouldn’t expect anything from me either.’

Hwashin brushed off my words lightly.

Moiya, who could hear what Hwashin was saying, stared at the center of my chest. It seemed that Hwashin was inside that area.

“That burn is such a jerk, Moiya~?”

This was a situation where the three of us needed to work together, but I had no idea how to get these two to cooperate.

‘Zelda, focus on the sword. And imagine heating the blade with your fire energy.’

Hwashin said seriously.

“Is that even possible?”

‘How would I know? You’re the one who has to do it.’

“……Hey, I mean! Do I even have the ability to do that!”

‘You couldn’t do it before, but you have to do it now, right?’

Easy for you to say.

“Haa. I’m going crazy, really.”

Dozens of suddenly increased ghost fires surrounded Moiya and me.

‘Their fire attribute is different.’

Hwashin advised me.

“What?”

‘The fire energy you have and those ghost fires are not the same fire.’

“Fire is fire, what’s so different about it?”

I asked Hwashin, looking around at the black eyes staring at me from within the ghost fires.

‘Those are fires controlled by demons.’

“……Demons?!”

What is this nonsense?

“No wonder the fire feels so eerie! They’re the kind of fire you can’t even grill sausages with, huh?”

Moiya looked around at the ghost fires and spoke irritably.

‘If you get hit by a demon’s fire, you’ll not only get burned but also be overcome with fear and die trembling. Be careful.’

“Is that all you have to say in this situation?”

I questioned Hwashin, wary of the ghost fires.

‘Oh, I forgot to say this. Good luck!’

“……Never mind.”

The moment I really shut my mouth, one of the ghost fires charged at me in an instant.

I pulled my body back and slashed at the ghost fire with my sword.

But the ghost fire split in half and then reattached.

The ghost fires chuckled as if they were mocking me.

“What, why won’t it die?”

‘Focus. I told you to put your fire energy into the sword, didn’t I?’

I looked down at the blade I was holding with both hands.

‘Put the fire energy into the blade.’

‘Let it be transferred.’

I repeated it inwardly like a spell, but this damn fire energy was nowhere to be found and wouldn’t transfer to the sword at all.

It usually spewed out heat so mercilessly as if it would roast me alive, but now that I was trying to use it, it was ignoring me?

“If I die, it’s all over. If you’re okay with that, then keep hiding.”

I even threatened the fire energy as I muttered.

While I was focusing my attention on the sword, Moiya was thankfully blocking the ghost fires attacking me with her flames.

It seemed that the Wyvern’s fire had the ability to eliminate the ghost fires containing demonic energy.

“Master, can’t you handle the fire energy yet?”

“Uh……”

Moiya was startled by my unsure answer and acted spoiled.

“Aigo [expression of frustration], my throat! Because of someone… the baby Wyvern is trying too hard.”

She was openly saying it was because of me, but it seemed she thought she was being considerate by changing her words.

She calls me ‘Master, Master’ but subtly throws shade at me?

“Moiya, hold on a little longer. I’ll give you lots of sausages later.”

If we survive this, that is.

I persuaded Moiya, not taking my eyes off the blade.

“Ooh? I’ll block them until blood comes out of my throat for Master! Kwaaaack-!”

Moiya finally widened her red eyes at the mention of sausages and began to spew fire wildly at the ghost fires.

Even so, it was not enough to deal with all of them, so I continued to concentrate on manipulating the fire energy.

Moiya was blocking the ghost fires coming at me, but it wasn’t perfect, so I had no choice but to dodge the ghost fires that flew at me from time to time.

‘If you can’t stop them here, these ghost fires might attack other people.’

“Ah……”

‘It could be Prince Tesler, but it could also be Emperor Linell, right?’

“!”

Hearing Hwashin’s words, my heart seemed to drop.

I didn’t want anything to happen to me here, but imagining Linell being hit by these ghost fires and trembling in fear made me angry.

He was already shivering from the cold!

“Master, to your right, be careful!”

Moiya shouted urgently.

‘That’s it!’

I felt heat flowing from my hand through the sword hilt.

I raised my head and swung the sword in the direction Moiya told me.

Surprisingly, the ghost fire that had just passed through the blade shattered in the air with a cracking sound, as if glass was breaking.

The ghost fires were all smashed to pieces as I swung my sword and hit them.

It was satisfying to smash them one by one, hearing the sound of glass breaking as I split the fires.

“Ooh yeah, it’s exciting to fight alongside Master, Moiya~!”

Moiya also got excited as I joined in, flying around and gathering the ghost fires in one place before spewing fire.

I smiled contentedly at her cute appearance as she cleverly used her head, and then I saw something appearing and disappearing on the wall in front of me.

“What is that?”

‘A demon.’

Hwashin replied indifferently.

“What?! A demon?”

The fading figure seemed surprised by my words, and the figure disappeared and then reappeared with a flash.

I split the last remaining ghost fire into four pieces and then shouted at Hwashin again.

“A demon?!”

“……Y-Yes.”

“!”

The answer came from an unexpected place.

What kind of demon answers so timidly with honorifics [formal suffixes in Korean] ?

“Ooh? The demon-ssi [honorific title] is very polite, Moiya~?”

Moiya flew to the place where the figure appeared on the wall.

“No, it’s dangerous, Moiya!”

***

Roxana returned to the Duke’s castle from the Magic Tower after the pain subsided a bit.

She dismissed all the other maids except Nancy and then took off her dress in front of the mirror in the anteroom to examine her back.

Logan said that the heat rising in her body was a pain she had to endure for the time being.

She had received a potion with pain-relieving effects, but it only reduced the intensity of the pain and couldn’t eliminate it completely.

Her back was truly gruesome.

The scars from the whippings she had received from her father were clearly visible.

The pent-up anger towards her father seemed to be resurfacing.

Roxana cooled down by taking a cold bath and returned to her room.

“Young lady, the designer from Selido Dress Shop has arrived.”

“Why is she here?”

“The Duke sent her to… tailor the young lady’s wedding dress.”

“Ah, I see. A wedding dress. I should have it made.”

Roxana took off her gown, checked the still-visible red scars on her back once more, and said to Nancy.

“Let her in.”

Nancy let the designer Ebel, who was waiting outside the door, in at her command.

“Hello, Lady Roxana. It’s a great honor to be in charge of designing Lady Roxana’s wedding dress.”

Roxana looked at the dress designer Ebel.

Seeing her face beaming, it seemed her father had already paid her.

“Please take good care of me.”

“Yes, before taking measurements, would you like to tell me what kind of design you want?”

The designer asked, taking out a notepad from her bag.

“The front can be as revealing as possible, but I want a design that completely covers the back. Is that possible?”

“Yes? The back?”

She asked Roxana again, wondering if she had misheard.

Conservative noblewomen sometimes wanted wedding dresses that covered the chest area, but it was the first time someone had asked to cover the back.

“Yes. I just don’t want the back to be exposed. And anything else doesn’t matter.”

Roxana went to her dressing table, took out a sapphire gemstone from her jewelry box, and handed it to the designer.

The designer was momentarily mesmerized by the sapphire Roxana handed her, but then looked at her again with a puzzled expression. Her eyes were asking why she was giving this to her.

“Take it. There’s one more thing you shouldn’t expose besides the back.”

“Just tell me anything. I will never disclose customer information, especially physical characteristics.”

The designer quickly took the sapphire and said.

“That’s good. Then let’s talk about the design while taking measurements.”

“Yes, Lady Roxana.”

The designer smiled brightly, put the sapphire she received from Roxana into her bag, and took out a tape measure.

In the meantime, Roxana took off the gown she was wearing.

“Oh my goodness, heavens!”

The designer was startled and fell backward when she saw Roxana’s back covered in whip scars.

***

“What on earth are you talking about! The Empress is trapped where?!”

Linell’s shout echoed loudly, as if to split the monastery lobby.

He felt as if his heart was collapsing as he heard the situation in the wine cellar from Rosie.

His soul was already not intact.

“Sob, no matter how much we tried to stop her, the Empress said she was okay, so……”

Suddenly, Princess Resilia burst into tears and clung to Linell’s arm.

“The Princess was the first one to run out!”

Melanie pushed Princess Resilia’s shoulder and shouted.

“That’s right. We could have all gotten out together if it weren’t for the Princess!”

Rosie glared fiercely at Princess Resilia, looking as if she would hit her if she continued to cry.

“Don’t slander me, everyone!”

Princess Resilia shed tears and deliberately made a frightened expression.

“W-Well, yes, the situation was so urgent. We can’t just blame Princess Resilia……”

Catherine, who ran out of the door after Princess Resilia, cautiously sided with the Princess.

Then Rosie, Melanie, and the others who had been in the wine cellar together glared at the two with resentful eyes.

‘Please, Zelda……!!’

In the meantime, Linell drew his sword and ran at a terrifying speed towards the place where she was trapped.